Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Mere Christianity

(In response to Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis)

I absolutely loved this book when I first read it last summer. I had been talking to my father about how I had felt concerning the state of the church today. I believe that we fight over things that are so minor. I believe that we have split ourselves and have in a sense become enemies of each other. We all believe in the same Heavenly Father, and to me it is not necessarily important whether you believe women should be in office, or whether you believe children should or should not be baptized. I believe that as a church we should be more ecumenical. I believe in A holy CATHOLIC church. One church... we need to unite together. Outsiders see the fighting within and between our churches and they are pushed away.

Over the coarse of this semester we have talked about a lot of controversial topics. We have discussed them from a Christian standpoint, we have all voiced different and separate views. And yet, together, we are still one class. I believe that this is the way the church should be.

I am happy that we ended the class in reading Mere Christianity. I feel that everyone enjoyed the entire book. I feel like this book is a welcomed slap in the face awakening us to the hypocrisies in the church and urging us to act.

"Whenever you find a man who says he does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later. " Lewis goes on to talk about how we have begun to expect more out of other people than we expect from ourselves. This is a cause of fighting between Christians and non-Christians alike.

I love how Lewis deals with Moral law and how explains them. He makes it clear that moral law is not something that was refined by a "herd instinct" but he also makes it clear that it is something we all have. That it was something developed for a reason. And that God had a hand in it.

"All I have got to is a Something which is directing the universe, and which appears in me as a law urging me to do right and making me feel responsible and uncomfortable when I do wrong. I think we have to assume it is more like a mind than it is like anything else we know--because after all the only other thing we know is matter and you can hardly imagine a bit of matter giving instructions."

1 comment:

Sarah's Chronicles said...

I really like your thoughts on the idea of the "holy catholic church." I find believers getting too caught up in what denomination is the most faithful or true to the word when our main concern should be to focus on bringing individuals to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ.